The Open Door
by bottlecaps
Summary: A mysterious affliction plagues Naruto. He struggles to hide a secret that could kill him, or even worse, shatter his mind and render him useless as a shinobi forever. Eventual SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first yaoi (boyxboy love) Naruto fanfiction. I've written it before, but this is my first ever in the Naruto category. The pairing will be SasuXNaru, but I won't get to it until later on. Yeah, the whole idea just decided to make itself known to me and demanded to be typed down on paper. I'll try to update as often as I can, which will be every weekend or so. Oh yeah, this is also a songfic, but it won't start until the official first chapter. This is only a proglogue.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the actual fanfiction. That means I don't own Naruto, or any other characters other than my OCs, which won't even be in this fanfic.  
**

**Notes: In case that anyone happens to wonder how old the characters are in my fanfic, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are all twelve. Other ages will be given out as more characters are introduced.**

**Warnings: yaoi, swearing, Naruto bashing, thanks to Sasuke, extremely morbid discriptions, and plenty of humor and randomness (at least later on, anyways) Enjoy!**

"blah" talking

_'blah' _thoughts/dream

"**blah" demon/human communication**

**Prologue : Naruto's Nightmare**

Naruto Uzamaki spit out the last bit of toothpaste into his dirty bathroom sink and cupped his hand under the faucet to catch water. He slapped it to his mouth, swished it around for a few seconds, and then spat the liquid out again. He quickly rubbed his face with cold water before turning the spigot off with a squeak.

A yawn escaped his lips and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was completely exhausted, which was unusual for him, from a long day of doing nothing but boring D-Rank missions. He glanced at the scratch marks on his arm from Madam Shijimi's cat, Tora, which he had received while chasing the large black feline all over Konoha.

He was surprised to see that they were almost already healed, but at the same time, he wasn't. Naruto was already aware that he healed faster than normal people, let alone his team-mates. Even Kakashi-sensei couldn't recover so quickly after taking a hit, although he always made sure to keep his other two team-mates unaware of the unique ability he possessed. He'd learned that after many spars during Team Seven's training sessions. Naruto supposed it was because his sensei wanted him to feel accepted, like it was okay to be different.

He also knew that his stamina, and sometimes strength too, were higher than an average jonin level. His favorite shadow clone jutsu itself was a jonin level technique, and almost physically impossible for any low-ranking ninja, but he could do it. He could produce a mass of shadow clones even though he knew his chakra control was far from perfect, while Sasuke and Sakura could make only one or two, four at the most, and Sakura had perfect chakra control. And although Sasuke didn't have absolute control, his strength made up for the slight deficiency and he could still manipulate the chakra to his advantage.

Naruto was aware perhaps more than anyone that being different, being himself, was somehow a bad thing. All of the eyes in Konoha overlooking him, ignoring him, barely tolerating his presence in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, except for a select few. The rookie nine; Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Hinata, Akamaru, and Shino, never treated him any differently, though not all of them knew Naruto personally.

Yawning again, he slipped on his fuzzy black nightcap and climbed into bed. He wriggled around under the sheets and comforters until he found a spot that was comfortable. A small shudder traveled through his back as he remembered the bad dream he'd had previous nights. The persistant nightmares were starting to become almost unbearable; he kept waking up during the night and it took him nearly ten mintues before he was calm enough to go back to bed.

He managed to push the disconcerting memories behind him and focused on sleep. He stretched once, allowing his body to loosen up, surprised to feel that his body was so tense. Blue eyes opened and closed twice, before giving in to sleep.

Dream

_Naruto stood at the gateway that led to Konoha, listening to the sounds of screaming and cries of help that issued from the village. He could feel tears burning the back of his eyelids, but for some reason, he couldn't cry. He couldn't even move his body to help the innocent civilians as they were incinerated_

_Konoha burned brightly in the night sky, not with hope or with happiness, but with fire. Orange, yellow, and red flames hungrily devoured timber and flesh, glass and bone. _

_The blood...all of the dark red blood that stained the ground in puddles glistening in the full moon overhead...All of the bloody, charred corpses burned beyond recognition...but he knew, somehow... whose mangled bodies were strewn before him..._

_Suddenly he was walking through the cobblestone streets. He could feel the searing heat press against him, feel his skin burning, but the nine-tailed fox-spirit sealed inside him continuously healed the burns as they were given._

_He walked, moving lithely through the flaming wooden telephone poles that fell to the groud, their cores eaten away by fire. The gound seemed to drop from beneath him and then he was standing in a room. He recognized it as the classroom of Umino Iruka, his sensei while he attended the Academy._

_What he saw chilled him to the bone. His sensei lay face-down on the floor, blood leaking slowly out from beneath him. A thin sword ran straight through his body and pinned him to the ground. Unable to stop himself as his body was acting of its own accord, he reached down and gently touched one of his sensei's arms._

_The jonin let out a groan, startling Naruto. He jumped back, heart racing, but relieved that his former sensei was still alive._

"_...ruto? That..you?"_

_Naruto wanted to speak, but his mouth remained shut. Any emotions he'd had up until that moment were gone, banished from his mind by some unknown force. It felt like someone plunged a kunai right into his own heart, but his face remained impassive as his sensei turned his head and looked at him._

_Iruka's chocolate orbs were dulled by pain and a tangible sorrow lingered in them._

"_Why...did you leave?"_

_Naruto had no idea what his sensei was talking about. The words only disturbed him even more than watching the village he had loved and called his home burn to the ground._

_He turned and ran, fleeing the scene of carnag only to be greeted by another. His current sensei, Kakashi, was pinned to a wooden stake in a mocking version of a crucification. His arms were splayed out on either side of him, held by wickedly sharp kunai that preforated skin and bone. Both of his legs had been tied with a rope and fastened around the bottom of the pole. The jonin's head hung downward in eternal death, silver hair spilling over his face, no longer tied back by his forehead protector._

_A sick feeling in his gut worked its way up from his stomach. Naruto gagged and threw up sour bile, the sight overwhelming all of his senses. When he finished, he stood up and wiped the cold beads of sweat from his forehead and turned his back against the body of his former sensei._

_The floor dropped beneath his feet again and he was standing at the gate of Konoha once more, only this time he could hear his name being called. _

"_Why did you leave us, Naruto?" Sakura's voice._

_Naruto's eyes widened as the pink-haired kunoichi stumbled towards him, arms outstretched in a zombie-like state. Her once-lively green eyes were now solid and filled with confusion. Her face was streaked with dirt and a large, oozing burn slashed across her face from her left temple to her right cheek, marring her perfect, pale complexion._

"_Why the hell did you leave, dobe?"_

_Sasuke appeared beside Sakura and uncharacteristically placed one arm under Sakura's arm to support the wobbling girl. Blood stained his clothes, which reaked of smoke and had several holes where flames had burned through them._

"_N-Naruto...Why..why did you..g-go and l-leave?"_

_A pale-eyed girl with deep raven hair walked up next to Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto breathed in a sigh of relief, realizing that he had been holding his breath ever since his team-mates first appeared before him. As his blue eyes traveled over her frame, they met a gruesome sight. _

_Her right arm had been burned to the point where it was unusable. Her flesh had melted and dripped from the intense heat and then solidified, creating a rough, blackened limb that began at the shoulder and ended with a twisted, deformed hand._

"_Stay away from Hinata. If you had not left, then this would have been prevented."_

_These words came from Aburame Shino, who surprised Naruto by teleporting in out of nowhere and pushing the shy Hyuga behind him. The cold bitterness that clipped every word cut Naruto to the marrow. Shino was quiet by nature, but always took the time to think things through before making a rational judgment._

"_Naruto..."_

_A green clad ninja arrived in a gusting whirlwind, carrying a platinum blonde girl in his arms. He lowered her slowly to the ground, making sure she could stand before releasing her completely. She still leaned against him slightly, favoring the left side of her body over her right. He saw the reason why seconds later._

_Her outfit was entirely scorched on the right side of her body, the clothing charred and hardly covering anything in some places. The skin on that side of the body looked as if it had been steeped in blood. It was wine red and covered with blisters and oozing pus. He noticed then that the ninja standing next to her, Rock Lee, didn't look any better._

_In places his lime-green spandex outfit was burnt or torn away and hung loosely from his lithe body. A large red mark was forming on his arm where the sleeve had been lost somehow. He smiled gently a at the injured kunoichi beside him and gazed at Naruto, his eyes more serious than he had ever seen before. His cheeks were flushed a deep red from the heat projected by the fire-ravaged village. _

"_What did you hope to do by leaving Konoha, Naruto?"_

"_I didn't...do anything." Naruto heard himself speak softly. The pain in his voice was evident, even more than the confusion._

_The spell-like trance that had overtaken him ever since veiwing Iruka's broken body abandoned its grip on his mind. He could now feel the tears that ran down his cheeks, stinging as though he was bleeding blood instead of tears. It was so painful that he reached up with one hand, touched his cheek, and pulled back. Red, slippery liquid coated his fingertips._

"_Please don't leave, Naruto."_

"_Stay here, dobe."_

"_D-don't leave, Naruto."_

"_Please...don't go."_

"_Naruto..." _

_Shino remained silent, but glared at Naruto coldly through his small, round sunglasses. Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Ino, Lee; their words made no sense to him. He couldn't have understood them any better than if they had been speaking a foreign language._

_By now, the only physical thing left of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was ashes. The entire place was in ruins. Flames stretched their smoke-darkened fingers up towards the cold, blue heavens. Buildings crumbled and fell, sending swirls of angry orange sparks like fireflys into the atmosphere._

_Then he was in a darker place. He could no longer see Konoha. Four walls surrounded him, splattered with blood and human innards. He felt something wet lapping at his feet. Blood. He gagged when the fetid stench of death reached his nose. The smell was so overpowering that he could even taste it in his mouth._

_A deep, evil laughter echoed in the room, but Naruto couldn't locate the source of the sound because it seemed like it came from everywhere. Fire ignited in the room, spreading along the walls of his prison. An ominous presence made itself known to him, manifesting itself as a nine-tailed fox made up of violent red chakra. _

_Naruto wanted to step back, but again his movement had been stopped by the unknown force. He was unable to move, simply standing while his mind panicked and tried to think of ways to escape. Suddenly the flames lurched towards him in a jet stream of blood-red fury and he let out a scream as it burned the skin of his right shoulder and forearm._

_The heat seared his skin, and the fire did something strange. It wrapped around his shoulder in a solid circle about five inches wide and turned ink black. An intense pain shot through him as the black fire tightened around his arm, imprinting the skin with glowing golden markings._

_Another burst of black fire encircled his forearm, starting just below his elbow and extending downward a length of three inches. More markings formed on his skin like a tattoo. A scream tore itself loose from his throat, but it was already so raw that it came out no louder than a harsh whisper._

_Everything flashed white and then the fire disappeared. So did the nine-tailed fox. The markings on his right arm stung painfully, causing him to lose his breath. A wave of dizziness crashed over him and he fell to the ground. When he tasted something funny, he opened his eyes again. His mouth was open and he had been laying in blood._

_Naruto jerked upright into a sitting position and vomited, spewing whatever had been in his stomach onto the floor. Gasping, he ignored the bitter acidic taste in his mouth and concentrated (it wasn't hard) on the pain emanating from the burns on his skin._

_He gripped his right arm tightly, gritting his teeth against the onslaught of pain that overwhelmed him and nearly caused him to lose consciousness. He watched as the golden markings squiggled around, forming what he recognized as kanji on his skin._

_The letters looked strange to him. He had never seen the odd-looking symbols before, but he could roughly translate a few of them. The kanji wrapping around his shoulder read "prisoner of darkness" and then the name of a seal he couldn't understand. Several other small black symbols followed the seal, but the meanings remained a mystery to him._

_Slowly, he brought his arm up closer to his face to see the letters inscribed upon the flesh of his limb. The markings were all nonsense to him; he couldn't make heads or tails of anything. He groaned loudly as the pain from the seals started to spread out across his body._

_Suddenly a shot of red chakra burst forth from his navel and crackled wildly around him. It seemed to be attracted to the new kanji on his body. The violent energy leaked out of his body, licking at the letters inked into his skin, and he felt a sharp pain come from deep within his stomach. He doubled over, using one fisted hand to support his body so it wouldn't fall into the crimson lake beneath him._

_An enormous cage appeared in front of him. Twisted metal bars stuck out at all angles and in some places there were gaping holes that were wide enough for an adult person to fit through with plenty of room to spare. Naruto gasped as white-hot pain radiated through his body. The agony was unbelievable._

_He struggled to remain sitting upright, and then he saw it. Blue eyes widened as he took in the towering gates which led to the opening of the cage. The doors were still intact, but dented outwards in a frightening display of power and a rectangular sheet of paper with black markings on it was pasted where the two metal edges connected._

_Naruto recognized the word "seal" in enormous writing, but he couldn't read any more because the top half of the paper was bending over the bottom half. The seal wasn't fully fixed on the doors anymore, though he couldn't understand why a flash of fear ran through him at the thought. He couldn't see a reason why he should be afraid of the enormous cage or the loose seal or the possibilities of the things that it contained._

_He felt himself falling...could feel the ice cold blood licking his cheek...trickling in his mouth...He spat furiously to try and get rid of the metallic taste, but each time he only received another mouthful. He couldn't breathe...he was drowning in the liquid essence of life that had suddenly multiplied its volume from a few inches to what seemed like infinity._

_Struggling, he reached up a hand, but the blood closed over it and he was dragged down into the darkness. The word "traitor" came out of nowhere and echoed around him. It was the last thing he heard before everything faded to black._

_End dream._

Naruto jerked awake, panting heavily. He tried to get out of the bed but thick, glossy black snakes were winding around his legs. Gasping and pumping his legs back and forth, he only succeeded in falling out of the bed, serpents still caught around his ankles. The jolt of pain that followed made him realize that he was awake, and what he'd previously thought were snakes were only his bed sheets.

Groaning in exasperation, he reached out with his left hand and yanked the cloth free from his legs. He stood up, rubbing his now sore backside and thinking about the horribly realistic nightmare. A few of the details had been changed, were new to him, but as he squeezed his eyes shut to remember them, it was like trying to hold smoke.

The dream scattered in his mind, fragments slipping away in spite of his attempt to recall them. He let out a sigh and then realized he was cold. Shivering slightly, he looked down to see that his entire outfit was drenched in icy sweat. A few strands of hair stuck to his cheek. He put his hand up to wipe them away and a sharp, needle-like pain spread through his upper right arm.

Rubbing the hurting limb with his opposite hand, he walked into the bathroom and proceeded to do his business. Once he was done, he shrugged out of his black nightshirt, having decided to take a shower. The hot water felt good on his skin and soothed his raw nerves.

He lathered his body with soap and scrubbed himself clean, feeling as though he was washing away all the traces of his nightmare. He stepped back and let the water rinse off the bubbles, avoiding the right arm as much as he possibly could because sporadic spasms of pain still traveled through it. Squeezing the nearly empty shampoo bottle didn't prove to be enough so he had to shake it several times before a tad amount of silver-grey goo slid out into his palm. It still wasn't enough to make due with. Frustration rippled through him but he stuffed it back, allowing a small, still goofy smile to take its place instead. _'Anger won't help me solve this problem, so why waste the effort?'_

Naruto wiped the shampoo on his hair and stepped gingerly onto the bright orange bathmat in front of his shower stall. He grabbed a brand new bottle of shampoo that rested on the edge of his bathroom sink and returned to his shower.

He held the bottle with his right hand and let the cleanser drop into his open palm slowly. He realized that his hand was shaking badly, but before he could put the bottle down, which had somehow aquired a tremendously heavy weight, it slipped out of his grip and landed fully on his foot. He gasped, hopping on one foot to try and massage the injured toes.

Then something happened. He lost his balance and, arms wind-milling circles wildly, he started to fall sideway. Before he landed, he managed to twist his body around and pushed the sliding glass door open so he wouldn't hit it. His head thudded painfully against the wooden floor while his ribs and lower stomach landed on the metal rail that kept the shower door on the track.

Naruto let out a whoosh as the air in his lungs burst out from the collision and he saw stars. He laid there for some time until he could regain his breath. _'At least my lower parts didn't end up hitting the metal rail. That...really would have hurt.' _he grimaced as he thought this over. He was immensely grateful that his thoughts hadn't been realized because he was positive that if they had, he would have been screaming in something that was more than sheer pain alone. As it was, he could already see a bruise starting to form across the lower half of his torso.

He stood up and looked across the room at his window. It was still very dark outside. He swung his gaze over to the digital clock sitting on his nightstand. It read 3:10 A.M. Naruto tied a towel gingerly around his thin waist, taking care to avoid the tender area. He hobbled over to his drawers and began searching for a pair of clothes to wear. He was disappointed when he could find none. Apparently, all of his usual outfits needed to be laundered, as he figured out when he stared at the towering stack of dirty clothes beside his bed.

The blond genin sighed loudly and started tossing things out of his drawers. He found a pair of boxer shorts, which he slid on carefully after removing the towel. Rivulets of water ran down his back, coming from his damp hair. He rubbed himself dry and let the towel sit on his shoulders while he looked for something suitable to wear.

After several long minutes of searching, he pulled out a pair of baggy, navy-blue, polyester pants. _'Not my first choice. They make a lot of noise and they tear easily too, but I don't want to walk around stark naked so I guess they'll have to do.' _Naruto searched some more and found a plain black sleeveless mesh shirt. _'Where the heck did I get this from? I don't remember seeing this shirt before.'_

He shrugged to himself and tugged it on. The shirt proved to be skintight, which he found uncomfortable compared to his normal black t-shirt with the red Konoha spiral on the front. However, as he twisted and turned slightly in the shirt to adjust, he found it to allow more freedom without moving around as much.

He winced as a sudden spurt of pain crawled slowly up his right arm, generating from his shoulder and traveling down to his forearm. He looked down and his eyes widened. A ring of black kanji about three inches wide circled around his forearm, just below his elbow, while another complete ring, this one five inches wide, winded about his shoulder.

"What the hell?!" Naruto shouted.

He gripped his arm in another spasm of pain, but quickly let out a yell and pulled away. The contact only caused the pain to intensify. Gritting his teeth, he observed the kanji again. Most of the large black symbols made no sense to Naruto. He was able to interpret a few words, but the rest of the letters remained a mystery to him; an undecipherable context.

"prisoner of darkness." he read slowly, allowing himself to absorb the information.

He reread the words and then noticed that beside them, there was a seal. He couldn't make heads or tails of the symbols as most of them were small and looked unfamiliar to him. The words and symbols on his arm formed a seal as well. height one on his shoulder looked like five black circles arranged in a pattern similar to a fingerprint, with the height corresponding to the lengths of each finger.

"I think it's a seal...but it doesn't look like a seal...but then again, I don't exactly know what a seal is supposed to look like...Wait...in my dream..."

Naruto broke off as the pieces of his dream zoomed back together in his mind like a puzzle being solved in fast motion. He remembered standing at the gates of Konoha and watching the village burn to the ground. With his eyes closed, he could picture his injured friends, could hear their words, could see their pain and grief. He remembered the way Kakashi's silver hair glowed in the moonlight and swept down across his face in a look of perpetual defeat. He remembered the room of blood, and the fire, and the pain, and the giant translucent fox standing before him with a sadistic-looking smile on its face.

Suddenly, a pain slashed through his stomach so badly that he fell to the ground with the force of it. Sparks of red chakra issued from a black spiral that stood out vividly against the tan skin of his stomach. The energy swirled upwards and licked the seal on his upper shoulder, sending waves of agony through his system so powerful that he nearly blacked out. He cried out, but his words were lost in the early morning silence.

A strange feeling of numbness overcame him, mixed in with the electric-like jolts that emitted from the double-tetragram seal on his stomach. White-hot rage flooded through him, blocking out his other senses. It wasn't his anger, but some unkown force's similar to the one in his dream. He saw red and gritted his teeth tightly before becoming aware that he had actually bitten down hard on his lower lip. Blood dripped onto the floor, but he ignored it. He couldn't feel the pain anymore, only outright hatred.

His canines grew longer, extending themselves down a centimeter and ending in needle-sharp points. The faint whisker marks on his cheeks deepened into small furrows. Anger raged through him, pouring off his body in waves of violent blood-red chakra. Naruto felt like he had lost all control over his body. He beat frantically against the walls of his mental prison, trying desperately to find some way to return his body.

In his mind, he was greeted with a familar, though highly unpleasant sight. An enormous cage stood before him, twisted metal bars bent outwards while others were completely missing. Only sharp, jagged metal edges remained from where the poles had been blown or torn away. A pair of enormous dark red eyes stared at him from within the page, but it was all Naruto could see in the darkness. They seemed to bore right through his solid body, stripping away his pathetic mental defenses and leaving him feeling more alone and vulnerable than he had ever felt before.

"Soon I will be free, human, and then you will be useless to me. You can suffer in hell for eternity while I finally get the freedom that I have waited so long for." a deep, obviously male voice issued forth from the cage. Cold venom dripped from the words, sending a shiver down Naruto's spine.

Naruto was stricken by fear. The dead weight rose in his chest, and all thoughts scattered from his mind. He realized he was shaking badly. Then he did the only thing left that he could do. He let out an angry yell, shattering the kyuubi's control over his mind. His anger felt purer than the evil one that had just engulfed him.

He was back on soild ground rather than floating in mental captivity. He sprawled out on the hardwood floor, completely drained to the point of near-exhaustion. The coolness felt good against his sweaty cheek and he lay there for half an hour, unable to find the energy necessary to move.

He finally struggled to his feet and managed to stumble over to his bed, where he very nearly passed out. The pain in his shoulder had died down to a mere tingling sensation, which, with a little effort, was easily ignorable. Naruto sat up at last when the first soft waves of predawn light were visible outside the window next to his bed.

Dressing himself completely proved to be an easier task than he first thought. He pulled on a thin black shirt over the sleeveless mesh shirt he had already been wearing and then zipped up a high collar jacket similar to his usual orange one, only it was the same shade of navy as his pants. Before he walked into the kitchen, he pulled up his right sleeve just high enough to see the black kanji tattooed into his skin.

_'Just like in my dream. I hope that doesn't happen again. It was really scary.'_

Naruto's stomach grumbled, snapping the blond genin out of his thoughts. Grinning ruefully despite the event that had transpired only moments before, he ran to his small kitchen and began to boil water for his ramen.

_'There isn't anything else I can do, so might as well eat breakfast. I can wait the morning out until its time for training.'_

**Ah!! It took me forever to type this because I had to get it just right. I tried to make it so that Naruto has a lot of optimism like he does in the anime. And another thing: I know absolutely nothing about kanji or any other form of japanese writing, so I had to use my imagination and come up with stuff. I only assume that it is the same as writing in english, but in a different form and pronounciation. I'm sorry if this bothers anyone, but my lack of knowledge in this department and my fondness for inaction are too much. However, I believe my creativity makes up for that. Thanks for reading the prologue of my fanfic and I hope you all will continue to read more as I update. I promise it'll be longer and much more interesting.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay. Now I can officially start this fanfiction. I needed the prologue to introduce the main conflict. I am very sorry for the late update. I should have posted this up sooner but I was delayed in writing this because I had a major brain fart. So yeah. Review replies are below.**

**A B-I-G 'Thank You' goes out to :Archangel Rhapsody, Me and My God Complex, Chibi Strawberry, and Adorabella:**

**Ha-chan: Thanks for the compliments. /blushes/ There will be yaoi, but its only a little bit. I'm not the greatest when it comes to writing this stuff. Its hard. And Naruto doesn't know about the kyuubi sealed inside him yet, so basically he can't understand about whats happening to him.**

**Serenity Cathedral a.k.a serena429: I'd love it if you could send me the website in an email. It would definitely give me something to do when I'm bored.**

**Stating a fact: Naruto doesn't know about the kyuubi sealed inside him. At least, not yet anyways.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. There you freakin' lawyers. Are you happy now?! XD**

**Chapter 1. **

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing? Let's get a move on. Sasuke and Naruto, you two spar again. I know you can do better than this, Naruto." a silver-haired jonin spoke from his position on the tree.

Kakashi groaned and put a hand over his face as he watched Naruto end up on the ground for the fifth time in half an hour. _'What in the hell does he think he's doing out there? He isn't even blocking all of Sasuke's punches, and Sasuke's taking it easy on him from what I can tell.'_The jonin sighed and glanced away after another loud thud and a yell came from the area where his two genin students were sparring.

Naruto dusted himself off indignantly and stood up again, readying himself in a defensive position. Beneath the sleeves of his navy blue jacket several bruises had already darkened into bluish-purple smears. Sweat drenched both of his shirts and collected in the small of his back. The early morning heat pressed itself against him like a tight blanket. He wiped a few strands of blond hair away from his flushed cheeks and waited for Sasuke to make the first move.

_'Come on, Naruto. Get with the program. Don't let yourself get beaten by him.' _Naruto tried desperately to motivate himself, but ever since the incident and the nightmare, two things wouldn't give him the simple peace of mind he needed. They floated around in his mind and mentally attacked him even when he had his guard up.

The first was the kanji and seal that freshly adorned his right arm. It set his nerves on fire every time he tried to use chakra to perform a jutsu; he'd learned after performing a shadow clone jutsu to clean his place up before leaving for training. The pain was tolerable, but with every following chakra-based attack, it intensified and left a numbing sensation as well as the feeling that he was not fully in control of himself. His conscious mind seemed to ebb out like a night tide and a stronger, malevolent one replaced it.

The second thing he couldn't get over was the lack of sleep. He'd been going without more than an hour of undisturbed sleep before the same nightmare plagued him over and over with its hellish visions of death and destruction for three-and-a-half weeks. He felt there was a meaning behind it, but every time he got anywhere closer to understanding it, the thoughts abandoned him. Even after calming down enough to fall back asleep, he'd wake up again about thirty minutes later, and then he only managed to get about five hours a night at most.

_'Man, I'm so tired. I really don't want to do this. I hardly got any sleep at all last night and I can't even use my chakra otherwise that stupid seal shocks me. How much longer do we have to keep sparring? I want to go home and sleep. I can't concentrate today.'_

Naruto spend a good deal of time debating whether or not he should mention the strange dreams and mysterious seal to his sensei. In the end, he decided against it because he didn't want to bother anyone with his problems. He was sure his sensei had plenty of other things to worry about. _'Besides' _he thought. _'It feels like something really bad. It feels like something that's just better if I keep it to myself. If only it didn't hurt so much when I try to use my chakra.'_

He drifted off into his thoughts again, forgetting about his position on the field.

"Hey, idiot. I'm not going to stand around here all day while you're daydreaming, so lets go. We _are _supposed to be sparring." Sasuke said, putting heavy emphasis on the word "are".

Naruto didn't seem to hear him at all. Instead he remained looking at some object behind Sasuke that only he could see, eyes glazed over in thought. A fist flying towards his face quickly made him remember where he was and he only just managed to dodge it by dropping his body low to the ground. He swung his feet around, trying to knock Sasuke to the ground, but he perceived the attack before he'd even finished and jumped up easily to avoid it.

A sandaled foot nearly crashed down on Naruto's face, but he rolled sideways and sent two quick fists one after the other towards the dark-haired Uchiha. Sasuke blocked them both easily by using his forearm to push them to the side and gave four in return. All four hit accurately, and then the Naruto in front of him disappeared with a poof of smoke.

_'Shadow clones. I should have figured it out sooner instead of wasting my energy. Now where are you hiding, Naruto.?'_

Sasuke didn't hesitate at all but instead used his hands to propel his lithe body into the air and the two shadow clones that charged at him from behind ran into each other. Two more poofs were heard and the smoke cleared.

_'Only three? What's going on, Naruto? Something isn't right.' _Kakashi thought as he once again turned away from the battle scene. He didn't want to witness the blond-haired genin get his ass kicked by Sasuke again. Five times had been enough. Pulling out the latest version of Icha Icha Paradise, he proceeded to spend a fair amount of time immersed in the quarrel between two distraught lovers which somehow lead to some really strange things being done with tongues and chocolate syrup on the floor.

Kakashi glanced up briefly to check on his students, absolutely positive his face was red. _'That was a good chapter, Jiraiya. Wonder where you got those ideas from.' _He decided to go and check on Sakura and Hinata to see how their training was progressing.

Kurenai had asked him a while back if he would be able to take Hinata under his wing temporarily while she did some special training with Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzaka. He didn't really mind. He actually thought it was rather convenient, since he felt it was better for Sakura to train with another kunoichi. Sparring between the pink-haired girl and someone like Sasuke Uchiha...well, he just didn't think it would be possible. _'Girls..When they get to be this age, they think about nothing but boys. Besides...Hinata and Sakura both might have learned something from each other.'_

"Sasuke. Naruto. I'm going to check on Sakura and Hinata. You both are relieved for now. Meet at the Hokage Tower in three hours from now; at one-o-clock, for your next mission assignment." he projected his words loudly, but it appeared that neither of the genin had heard him. _'He-he. Maybe they'll train all day. Wouldn't I get lucky?' _He sighed and teleported himself to the other training grounds.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto was hiding in the foliage surrounding the training grounds, gripping his right arm tightly as hot pain raced through the appendage. _'Ow...that hurt...more than last time and I only made three clones this time.' _He felt his body tingle as Sasuke's obsidian eyes passed over his hiding spot.

He stiffened until they passed and then relaxed, but he wasn't prepared when they swiveled back to his exact location. In a flash, Sasuke was gone. Naruto blinked twice and then felt an icy hand gently squeezing the back of his neck.

Naruto swallowed nervously, his body tense, the fight-or-flight response ingrained in him instinctively pressing in on his mind.. Before he could use a substitution jutsu, Sasuke spun him around and launched a powerful kick that caught him right in the ribs and sent him airborne halfway across the field. Sasuke appeared behind him and gave several punches that landed precisely where they should have caused the most pain, but Naruto could tell by the blows that he was holding back.

_'Why the heck is he holding back? I know he is. Those hits should have hurt a lot more than they did. Is he up to something?'_ Naruto thought as he landed, face-up, on the soft grass of the training grounds. He winced as a flare of white-hot pain shot through his arm in a jagged streak, zig-zagging from the circle of kanji on his forearm to the seal on his shoulder and back again.

_'Little idiot. Don't even think about asking me out loud. That's sure to get Kakashi-sensei's attention. Just shut up, Naruto.'_

"Sasuke..." Naruto started. He was about to go on when Sasuke's icy glare struck him full-force. He shut his mouth and opened it again, imitating a fish out of water.

"Never mind!" he replied quickly to the unspoken words and rubbed his hand behind his head sheepishly, a grin on his face.

Naruto prayed silently to kami and any other deity he knew that his expression was enough to mask the pain he felt. The sheer agony of it was almost overwhelming. Nevertheless, he continued grinning, hoping that the previous spar had been his final one and training would be over for the day.

He was surprised when Sasuke held his hand out towards to him, offering to pull him up. Naruto looked quizzically at the dark-haired boy in front of him. His stomach flip-flopped when he caught Sasuke's charcoal eyes studying him intensely.

_'Eh...Why is he looking at me like that? Man, its just plain creepy.' _

Naruto dismissed the thoughts with a shake of his head and accepted the hand. Sasuke pulled back and

hefted his team-mate to his feet. The blond shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the next as Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly and continued to observe him.

"Err...Thanks."

Heat flashed through his body, setting him on edge. _'If Sasuke finds out...gah...why the heck does he keep staring.'_

"Shouldn't we get back to training?" Naruto said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"You obviously didn't hear Kakashi then. He said we're done." Sasuke replied, restating his sensei. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Naruto realized that he was still clutching his right arm tightly at the shoulder, where although the slightest amount of pressure caused immeasurable amounts of pain, his hand felt cold enough to sooth most of it. He let his arm fall to one side and tried as best as he could not to wince.

Sasuke wasn't an idiot and he wasn't blind either. It was obvious that something was bothering the blond, but what he couldn't figure out was why it actually felt like cared.

_'Since when did I start caring for people other than myself?' _he asked himself mentally.

It wasn't that he was stuck up, although Naruto probably would have agreed with the assumption hands-down. He had always been a loner, preferring solitude over the company of others. Most people were just too loud or too clueless to understand that.

"Yeah, of course I'm alright. Never been better!!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, grinning from ear to ear.

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow.

"Right...well...in that case. See ya." he started to walk away.

Naruto stood there for some time after Sasuke left, not sure of what to do. He finally decided to just go back home. If what Sasuke said was true, than thats what he should do. He dusted himself off and took the shortest route he knew home.

Naruto filled a pot with water, set it on the stove, and put it on high. He sighed. _'Three minutes is such a long time.'_

He searched his cupboards, only to find that there were only a few dusty packages of ramen left. There was only one solution. He was going to have to buy more. After all, what would he do if he ran out of the most beautiful, most wonderful, best-tasting food in the world he'd ever had in his life?

Sighing gloomily at the prospect of going into town just to haggle with the store owner over the price of a few boxes of ramen. Things like that always happened though. He was no stranger to the rude and sometimes just plain mean treatment he received from all of Konoha with the exception of about a handful of people: Iruka, Kakashi, the Third Hokage himself, Sakura, and Sasuke.

Frustrated, he let out a breath between his lips, blowing his spiky blond hair away from his face.

"Maybe Sasuke would go for me. I mean, I have the money. All he has to do is...no, he wouldn't. Even if I asked him. He'd probably only ask me even more questions. But..."

Naruto's voice trailed off as he remembered the training exercise from earlier that day. '_Sasuke asked if I was okay. If I can just call him and ask him for a quick favor...'_

Before he had a chance to lose his nerve, he strode over to the phone and picked it up. His fingers punched in the digits he'd memorized by heart for some unknown reason beyond his comprehension, but hesitated over the last number.

"Oh screw it. Just call him already!" he shouted at himself and pushed the final button.

Several hollow-sounding rings echoed through to his ear before an automatic answering machine picked up.

"Please record your message after the tone." said the machine with a coldness only capable of an electronic device.

Naruto paused, drawing a blank in his mind. He'd just completely forgotten what he wanted to ask Sasuke in the first place. He took a deep breath to regain his composure and spoke.

"Hey Sasuke. It's me...Naruto...I guess you're not home right now, but I...uh...I wanted to ask you a favor. Its nothing stupid or anything. Just...oh, never mind." Naruto said and hung up with a click.

"Wait a minute. Why wouldn't Sasuke be home? I mean..." he glanced at the clock. "It's only...almost one! Ahh! Kakashi-sensei said we were supposed to meet him at the Hokage's office for another mission. No wonder he isn't home. I'm late!"

Naruto yanked on his blue jacket, ignoring the screaming arm muscles, shut off the burners, and was out the door in a matter of seconds. Running down the street didn't cause him any pain until he tried pushing chakra into his leg muscles in an attempt to speed up. He doubled over as small red sparks crackled down over the seal on his arm. His vision dimmed and a nauseous feeling nearly overcame him. A burning feeling in his gut brought him down to his knees.

Taking several deep breaths, he waited for the wave of dizziness to pass before starting up again. In a few minutes, it was as though nothing had ever happened.

_'Why is it like that? Why can't I use my chakra? Why does it always make me feel so sick...ever since that dream...that...that nightmare.'_

Naruto shook the thoughts away as he raced into the Hokage's office. To his embarrassment, Sasuke, Sakura, and even his sensei were already there.

"Uh...sorry. Am I late? I have to be if you're here, Kakashi-sensei."

"By exactly one minute and thirteen seconds." the silver-haired jonin replied quite seriously.

The blond genin sweat-dropped. _'Okay, okay. I was late, but just barely. I lost track of time and this stupid thing on my arm is causing me a lot of trouble.'_

"Sorry, sensei. Anyways, what's our mission? Please say it's not another boring D-rank mission. We need a chance to prove ourselves as ninja!" Naruto declared, speaking for himself as well as his team-mates.

"Your mission-" Kakashi paused, turning to the Third Hokage.

Sarutobi met the jonin's questioning glance. "Do you think they are ready, Kakashi? I trust your judgment."

"Ready? Ready for what?!" Naruto asked eagerly.

Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets and sighed. "It will help them improve their team-work. Its experience Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura could all use. And I am a jonin, after all. They won't be going without me as well.Yes. I feel they are ready."

"Well, alright then. I'll give you all a C-Rank mission. Please send the visitor in." the Third called out to the right of him.

A door in the wall slid open to reveal a middle-aged heavy-set man leaning heavily against the wall. He grunted, lifted a bottle of sake to his lips, and took a long gulp. A few drops of alcohol dripped down to stain his faded blue shirt. He stepped into the room, lowering the drink just enough to survey the group of genin before him.

"These brats are going to protect me? Ridiculous!" he said and took another sip of sake.

"This is Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Waves, a small village about three days' travel from here. He has asked for protection from robbers and the occasional bandit until he is able to make it back to his village and complete his bridge." Sarutobi spoke.

"These kids look like they're barely out of diapers. Especially the short one with the idiotic grin on his face."

"Wait...whose the short one...?" Naruto looked at himself and his team-mates.

"Hey!! I'm not short!!" he shouted at the bridge-builder angrily, having just realized that he was, to put it bluntly, the shortest member of his team. "Nobody calls me short and gets away with it. Come here, you!"

Naruto charged at the man but was quickly restrained by Kakashi.

"But sensei!" he protested, struggling fiercely against the tight grip Kakashi had on him.

"Naruto. Your mission is to protect Tazuna. You can't attack him." he said and let Naruto go.

"I'm gonna be Hokage some day, and then you'll have to respect me!" the genin shouted furiously and crossed his arms.

"Oh yeah. Even if you do, you'll still be a little brat to me."

The insult set Naruto off again, but this time Sasuke stepped in. He placed one hand in front of Naruto to prevent him from attacking and met the bridge-builder with a calm, steady gaze.

"Our mission is to protect you. That means all of us, Sakura, myself, Naruto, and our sensei. I suggest that if you want us to fulfill our mission successfully, you leave Naruto alone. We're all you have for now, and if you don't like it, than tough. But Naruto is a team-mate, just like Sakura and I, and he is an equal member of this team. He will not be treated any differently than us." his voice came out cool and collected.

He turned to Naruto. "He isn't worth it, Naruto. Don't let him get to you."

Sakura and Kakashi both blinked, similar thoughts running through their minds. _'Holy crap. Did Sasuke really just say that much at one time? And standing up for Naruto too...I mean...Who would have thought?'_

Meanwhile, although calm on the exterior, inside he was very angry, and also confused. _'Why is it that Naruto always gets treated this way by everyone. He grew up isolated...an orphan...and even all the villagers seemed to want nothing to do with him at all. They pretended like he didn't exist...And why...why did I just defend him. What the hell has gotten in to me?'_

"Alright then. Mission accepted." Kakashi said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the group. "Sakura. Sasuke. Naruto. You all go prepare for the trip and meet back at the Konoha gates. You have an hour."

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto all left for home to pack their gear for the journey to the Land of Waves. Sasuke was eager to go on a tougher mission. That went for Naruto as well. He'd never been outside Konoha before. Even Sakura felt a tingle of excitement rushing through her veins. However, they all had mixed emotions about the mission.

_' I wonder what it will be like outside of Konoha. I'll get to see new things, but this is a tougher mission. I hope I'm ready for this.'_

_' Oh man. This is so cool! I just hope that when the time comes, I'll be able to use my chakra. I have to take this mission seriously.'_

_' This is a level up from the missions we're used to doing. I need to make a list of things to bring since we'll be gone for about a week and a half at the most. Why did it upset me so much to hear Tazuna call Naruto a brat? What is going on with me?'_

**Sorry, all, but I have to end it there. It took me forever to come up with this idea, and then it kept me up all night typing because I was afraid I would forget a part or something. Sasuke probably seemed very OC in this chapter, but its called fanfiction for a reason, ya know. And besides. He may be a bit jaded, but he's still a twelve-year-old kid. I thought he was kind of cool in this chapter. Again, I apologize for the late update. I do now know when the next one will be, but hopefully it will be soon. Positive and negative feed-back is welcomed, but no flamers please. If you dislike something, say it nicely. Flames will be used to toast marshmallows. Toodles.**


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